Last Chance
by Circe King
Summary: Author of Look Me in the Eye and No Choice Lina, a girl born a desert dweller but raised from a very young age at the Academy, and her dragon Ranya are given one last chance to turn their lives around, but it means learning to trust the man they were raised to fear. No slashy, sorry guys.


Well guys, I'm not dead! This is my newest story, the other one kind of died on me :/

This is based between 150-300 years after Inheritance.

I lost my beloved Nasuada, but then again, Katrina's dead too, so everything okay!

* * *

"What did you do?" Knifrkona just about snarled when Lina walked into her study.

"What? No hello?" Lina sat desert-style on the ground beside an expensive elven wood chair. The older woman rolled her eyes and rested her hands on the desk expectantly.

"Why are there three students, one of whom is the son of one of the only two living Shadeslayers, in the infirmary?" her voice shook with anger.

"I thought we cleared this up," Lina leaned back on her hands and smiled sweetly. "Merric's dragon stepped on him..."

"His dragon weighs barely ten pounds more than him. I doubt that could break his femur."

"...Anders fell down the stairs..."

"He has three broken ribs and half his head is shaven."

"...and Draco was trampled by a wild giant boar."

"How did the boar get all the way up here?"

"How should I know? It's not _my _job to keep animals away from students." Lina said innocently.

Knifrkona scowled and sat back in her chair. "I have just one question. What did they do?"

"Merric tied Ranya's mouth closed and Anders locked me outside in the snow for three hours two nights ago."

"And Draco?"

"He was actually trampled by a boar. I like Draco, he's not an arrogant ass."

"Lina this is the third time this month I've had to bring you in here, I am a very patient woman and I understand that you have a...disability-"

"Disability? I'm a fifteen-year-old desert-rat with a dragon that can't breathe fire and will never be able to," she said very matter-of-factly.

"But you aren't immune to punishment. And that's why you'll be leaving the Academy."

"WHAT?" Lina shot to her feet and there was a distant roar as her dragon reacted.

"Lina, I'm not fini-"

"This is the only home I have ever known! Where the hell do you expect me to go? I'm a desert-rat that only speaks Alagaesian, no one will ever trust me. And what about Ranya? She's been surrounded by other dragons practically since she hatched, she'll never survive without the others-"

"Lina."

"You can't send me away, please, I'll do anything!" she fell to her knees at Knifrkona's feet with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Lina. We're not sending you away. At least not permanently. You're going to be traveling with a new teacher. We need to evaluate his teaching abilities, and I think separating you from the other students might help you."

Lina stood up again and narrowed her eyes. "Who?"

"I think it would be better if you met him first."

"Lina you're overreacting." The headmaster said.

"Overreacting?" she finally stopped right in front of his desk and slammed her fists against the wood. "I'm already the desert-rat, you think pairing me up with _him _won't make my life any worse? I already have a bunch of idiots hurting my dragon and insulting me, what do you think is going to happen when I come back? Of course, he might just _kill _me before I even get the chance!"  
"Lina, I have full trust in him. And I think you two will get along very well."

"Get along? Get along? He's a killer!"  
"Have you forgotten that I am not only a Shadeslayer, but a Kingslayer as well? I have just as much red in my ledger."

She sighed and bowed slightly. "I'm sorry sir, but this is different. He killed one of our allies."

"You don't have a choice in the matter, Lina. You either go with him or test your luck in the outside world. It's not exactly easy to do with a dragon."

Lina scowled and leaned against the windowsill overlooking a sheer drop to the bottom of the mountain, which was shrouded in clouds.

"I just don't understand, sir. Do you really expect for anyone to accept him? They have enough of a problem with me because I was born a southerner. How do you think they'll react to someone like _him_?"

"I know how people will react, Lina. The same way people reacted to Queen Nasuada when she started her reign."

"This isn't simple distrust or a lack of belief in his abilities. He's one of the monsters people tell their children about to scare them at night. My old nursemaid used to threaten me with those stories!"

"And it was the same way with the urgals, we have several urgal students here at the Academy."

"And it was the same with the Ra'zac! And you wiped them out!"

"And do you suggest they do that with me?" someone whispered in her ear.

She screamed and fell out the window to a sheer drop to the ground.

* * *

Knifr: knife

Kona: woman

So Knifrkona would mean knife-woman. She's the best known knife-fighter in Alagaesia, an amazing feat for a human woman. She was named Knifrkona after defeating Blodhgarm in a knife fight.

Well, you guys know the drill. R&R!

**_Sic semper tyrannis  
_**

**_Circe King  
_**


End file.
